Best diesel-fired boat heater for aluminum cabin boats? Not looking for stove/oven, just some heat...

Dan, how did you like the Fusion Ipod deck?

I want to upgrade electronics too...thinking of going Garmin this time and ditching the Raymarine. Is the touchscreen stuff worth a go?

I'm thinking hard about a getting a cabin welded on my 19' Pacific, and then going with a heater, music, etc.

We did the Espar D4, and it does work. Think we might need to insulate our roof a bit, but the heater does a good job of knocking the cold off. Installation isn't as bad as it seems once you start drilling holes.

Can't really comment on the others except to say that we've heard a few bitches about wallas and webasto and just avoided them. Plus, there is an Espar dealer in town now....

The fusion is on its second boat, and still going strong...

I'm pretty happy with my raymarine. I had it dialed into those kings this summer while handtrolling. Honestly couldn't' ask for anything better on my little boat.

It's nice to be out of the elements when boating around. As much of a PITA our boat canvas can be, it's definitely nice to hide behind.

I've been pretty happy with our Raymarine over the past 5yrs, but now it has some quirks and idiosyncracies that drive me a little nuts.

Think it's easier to buy new than sort things out with 'customer service', and updates only seem to add another layer of 'WTF is wrong now?'

Think Bill and I should look into the espar heaters for both boats, maybe D4 and D2. Obviously after this many years without a heater, it's not necessary, but it would make life easier on overnight and multi-day winter trips.

I understand that next year drop bows will be all the rage.

Yeah, a buddy of mine has an old beat up landing scow I've had my eye on for years. Trouble is he wants like $25k (maybe even more!) for what's essentially a $15k ride.

If it had Yamaha power, I could probably talk myself into $20k on it, but I think it's got a Nissan or something hanging off the back.

Grin...

too funny, I seem to remember a conversation about said boat not to long ago. I figure you'd of offered him 20k for it and told him to keep the nissan.......grin

shh...he might be reading this...grin.

Thoughts on whether to get a boat heater? LOL...

I had something typed up but thought you might take me up on it......grin

Every single person I know with an Espar LOVES it, including us. I have heard grumblings from owners with other brands, and my only experience with a Webasto isn't good. It shit the bed after a couple of seasons of minimal use.

I heartily recommend an Espar heater, and once you have it you'll probably wonder what you did without it. We did, and it only took one trip.

Advanced Diesel in Anchorage sells bare bones Espar kits, and they'll save you several hunderd bucks over the marine kits. You guys should stop by the house on one of your trips through Anchorage (we're close to the airport) and check out our set-up. We still need to run the hot air ducting, but you'll get an idea of what an Espar will do and what it takes to install one.


The deck is slightly larger than other decks, so that might be an issue, depending on where you need to put it. Once you have a Fusion in hand, you quickly realize it's a quality unit. The whole deck is contained in a sealed aluminum housing, and the face is rugged. We all like it a lot, and I'm not sure we'll be looking for a replacement any time soon.


I love Garmin's chartplotters, but I'll avoid the touchscreen if and when we upgrade (we're toying with the idea, so we can add radar overlay). I just can't imagine buying a $3000 display, and then deliberately smearing my grimy fishing hands all over the thing. And, if Garmin's touchscreen is as shitty as my iPhone is with wet hands, it's an easy choice to skip the touch screen and stick with actual buttons. It'll save me trying to explain to Chris why there's a fist-sized hole in the new Garmin.....grin.

I am a huge Furuno fan, when it comes to fish finders. Our little FCV-620 continues to impress us, and the FCV-585 is just be more of a good thing (same digital circuitry, but with 1kW of power and a larger screen).

If you have the dash space, I prefer having a separate fish finder and GPS. Toggling between screens isn't all it's cracked up to be, especially when seas are sloppy and you should be concentrating on something else.

All this talk about boats is making me want to go kill some fish.

I'm thinking about pulling the windows out,so as to get closer to Nature................

Sometimes Bill and I have to kick people out from under the canvas, to get 'em glassing. Too tempting to hide under it, out of the weather.

Thanks for the comments Dan. I think we're on the same page with the heaters and the Garmin. Those two items plus a repower will freshen up our boat a bit for sure.

Any idea when your new outboards are due to show up?

How did your re-wire project go?

We(kids & I) saw alotta Bucks this year,that noone else did.

If you ain't got bino's bolted to your blinkers,you's missing the boat...............

I hear ya. That's one advantage to the Florida style T Top. You can drive, stand, and glass at the same time.

It just gets really freaking cold on the way home some times.

Colder than that...........(grin)

We went with single Yam 350 and I guess it should be arriving any time now.

Haven't done shit else to either boat except beat on 'em. Need to put some time in this winter to sort things out again. Lots of little things need attention.

Probably won't happen though...grin.

How's the Yami 150 doing for you?

Ha! Guilty here!

Uncle Jim always set a good standard though. I tried to follow his lead.

Yeah, he definitely logs his share of time outside the canvas. He's pretty good with his binocs too!

The 150 Yamaha is doing very well. Really nice upgrade, that was.

Kicker motor?

I ought to try and get down there this summer. I'd gladly help you guys out with a re-wire, and after the hospitality you guys showed us, it'd be nice to return the favor.

Our kicker is a Honda 8 or 9, high-thrust or something...not sure. Damn good little unit though.

Now looking at this again:


We go through this every year..grin.

One of these times it's gonna stick...

Yeah, you oughta come down...

Which BTU size you go with? Fuel tank size? How far can the exhaust run considering 90's, etc?

We went with the D4, after debating the D2 vs D4. Glad we went bigger.

Our tank right now is a 3 gallon plastic outboard tank that we plumbed up. We'll hopefully be getting an aluminum tank fabbed up, but this got us on the water with heat.

I can't remember if there is a limitation on exhaust length, but Dan has the book somewhere. Ours is about 3 feet of exhaust tubing. They want you to put a gooseneck above the thru-hull, to prevent water from coming in from a wave taken on the side.

Vary good, thanks.